80 Million Treated Against Elephantiasis

This is Robert Cohen with the VOA Special English Development
Report.

Four years ago, the World Health
Organization and other groups began a campaign to end lymphatic
filariasis. This disease is a leading cause of disability in
developing countries. Left untreated, fluid collects in tissue.
Lymphatic filariasis can cause severe enlargement of the legs, arms
and areas around the sexual organs. The disease is commonly known as
elephantiasis.

The cause is a parasite. It is spread to humans through the bite
of mosquitoes that carry the organism. Early signs of the disease in
children include learning problems and reduced growth. Once
infected, humans can pass the parasite back to other mosquitoes that
bite them.

About one-hundred-twenty-million people in eighty countries are
infected with lymphatic filariasis. Most of these people are in
Africa, Southeast Asia, South America and islands of the Pacific
Ocean. The countries have a total population of more than
one-thousand-million people.

The Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis has
released a progress report on the treatment campaign. The group says
eighty-million people have begun treatment against the disease. Two
drug companies, GlaxoSmithKline and Merck, are providing medicines
for free.

Individuals take two drugs once a year. This combined treatment
stops the spread of elephantiasis. But it will not undo any damage
already caused by the disease.

The first drug is albendazol, made by GlaxoSmithKline. This drug
also kills several other kinds of parasites that can infect the
intestines. These include roundworm, whipworm and hookworm.

A second drug commonly given against lymphatic filariasis is
called ivermectin. The Merck company manufactures it. This drug is
also used to fight river blindness.

The parasite that causes lymphatic filariasis grows slowly. It is
not expected to develop a resistance to the drug treatment. In
addition, treatment costs are low – between ten cents and two
dollars per person per year. Health officials want to put people on
five-year treatment plans. The goal of the campaign is to end the
disease worldwide within twenty years.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill
Moss. This is Robert Cohen.